Piston bugle



Sept. 11, 1934. BURKLE 1,973,049

PISTON BUGLE Filed April 15. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F9 QWQM 0 m if duct mug Sept; '11, 1934. P, J BURKLE I 1,973,049

PISTON BUGLE Filed April 15, 1931 2 Sheets$hee1. 2

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Patented Sept. 11, 1934 earn PISTON BUGLE Philip J. Burkle,-Elkhart, Ind.,

assignor to C. G.

Conn, Ltd., Elkhart, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application April 13, 1931, Serial No. 604,965

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in musical instruments, and it particularly refers to improvements in brass instruments of the type used for military bands or similar organizations.

-5 It is an object of'the invention to provide a brass instrument of this character which lends itself readily to a change from one group of harmonics to another group of harmonics.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a brass instrument of this kind in which this alteration of the playing capacity of the instrument can be effected during the actual use of the instrument and Without requiring the adjustment of complicated parts thereon.

It is, furthermore, an object of the invention to provide an instrument in which this possibility of alteration of the groups of harmonics to be played can be carried out by a device which does not materially alter the shape of the instrument from that shape in which the ordinary instrument of this ype is usually brought on the market.

It is an object of the invention to provide a brass instrument in which the adjustment to different groups of harmonics may be effected without altering the over-all length of the instrument or without adding or removing respectively any additional pipes from the instrument.

The invention also has the object of providing a normally valveless instrument of this type with a valve which can be operated by the thumb of the player during the use of the instrument, and to arrange this valve in such manner that upon actuation of the same, the length of the path of air to be traveled through is materially increased or reduced respectively.

With these and other objects in view, embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings to which reference is made in the following specification, and the salient features are pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of the complete instrument;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the instrument and partly a fragmentary section on an enlarged scale; a

Fig. 315 a horizontal section on a similar scale on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on line 44 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section on 5-5 of Fig. 6, showing another embodiment, and

Fig. 6 is a partial side elevation similar to Fig. 2, of this second embodiment.

The most simple brass instrument preeminently adapted for marching organizations is the ordinary bugle which, however, is capable solely of playing music especially composed for it, or which is primarily adapted for rendering simple signals. The only tones which can be practically played thereon are a few low numbered harmonics of its fundamental. Marching music for this instrument 'is chiefly confined to the third, fourth, fifth and sixth harmonics.

It had been proposed heretofore to equip bugles with valves to enable the user to increase the range of harmonics by including the low numbered harmonics of more than one fundamental. The valves of these bugles had to be actuated in a manner'similar to the valves of a comet. Since, however, the bugle is primarily an instrument to be played by marching organizations, and vertical valves are easily damaged, this instrument was not generally introduced; it also 7 failed to become popular since the vertical valve detracted from the characteristic appearance of the bugle.

It also had been proposed to enlarge the playing range of bugles by equipping them with tuning 30 slides, demountable crooks, quick-change slides or quick-change rotary valves. These adjusting devices provided for an enlargement of the ordinary playing range of the bugle, but required considerable labor in order to effect the adjustment, so that a bugle corps making use of these adjusting devices had to be divided into groups, the members of the several groups using bugles which were all adjusted by similar devices to the same extent, the adjustment in the'different groups, however, being different. The music produced, however, still showed a somewhat monotonous, jerky or halting character. A rapid adjustment of any of the instruments of the corps to alter the playing range could not be effected and the various bugles in the diiferent groups, therefore, again were practically single toned bugles, with the tones in the different groups varying from each other;

The present invention combines the advan- 10o tages of a possibility of rapid alteration of the range of tones without interference with the ease of playing the instrument and without greatly altering the appearance of the instruments. While in prior bugles with valve adjustment, 9. valve had been positioned in one of the bends or crooks of the instrument, in the present invention the valve extends longitudinally or horizontally between the turns of a bugle of traditional ppearance. When this instrument then is held in the conventional manner, the valve is con veniently located for operation by the thumb of the player, and upon adjustment of the valve, the length of the air passage provided in the bugle is materially increased or decreased, respectively.

The customary mouthpiece 1 is detachably secured to the pipe 2 which in the preferred form merges into a bend 2', and this bend is continued in the form of a straight pipe 3, into which another straight pipe is slidably telescoped to form one side of the tuning-slide, whose bend 4 leads to parallel telescopic straight pipes, theouter,

one of which is shown at 5. Depending uponthe amount or extent to which the telescopic pipes are drawn, the pitch of the instrument will vary.

The straight pipe 5 is connected with the device by means of which the air passage through the entire instrument may selectively be varied,

that is, lengthened or shortened, as desired, so as to permit within practical limits a duplication of the playing range of the instrument. The pipe length 5 for this purpose is connected, as shown in Fig. 3, with a short'elbow 6 which terminates in a valve housing '7 extending longitudinally of the entire instrument and having substantially cylindrical cross-section, the housing being closed at both ends and containing a cylindrical piston,

or plunger 8, the cross-section of which COI'I.

sponds to the cross-section of the housing 7. A stem 9 fixed to the plunger 8 extends through a cap 8 of the housing '7 and is guided within a sleeve secured to said cap. This stem is provided at its outer end with a finger piece 10 to facilitate the displacement of the piston inward or outward relatively to the housing '7.

The plunger 8 is provided with a plurality of ports (not shown) located intermediate its ends in such manner that upon suitable adjustment 1 of the plunger to one terminal position, one of said ports at least establishes communication between the elbow 6 and another elbow 11 also extending from the housing '7 and preferably fix edly connected therewith. A ferrule 12 connects this second elbow 11 with a bend 13 which merges into a straight pipe 13', as shown in Fig. 2, and this straight pipe again is connected by a ferrule 14 with another straight pipe 15 merging into a bend and continued beyond the bend by a straight portion 15' parallel to the pipe 2, the straight pipe 15 being connected with an elbow 1'7 by a ferrule 16. The elbow 17 again is in communication with the housing 7, and, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the two elbows 11 and 1'7 preferably are located in a common plane.

The plunger 8 within the housing is provided with another port (not shown), and the two ports within said plunger are spaced from each other in such manner and extend through the plunger at such directions, that upon positioning the plunger 8 for establishing communication between the elbow 6 and the elbow 11, the other port of the plunger establishes communication between the elbow 1'7 and another elbow 18, also extending from the valve housing '7.

It will be evident, therefore, that there are four elbows 6, 11, 1'7 and 18, connected with the piston casing '7, the location of these elbows being fixed relatively to each other and to the piston casing, in such manner, that the various straight pipes and bends so far described, together with the piston casing, still maintain the general appearance of the ordinary bugle.

The elbow 18 is in communication through a ferrule 19 with a bend 20 which is continued in the form of a straight pipe, and this straight pipe merges into a second bend, from which a tube with gradually increasing diameter leads to the flare or bell of the instrument.

When the piston 8 is adjusted in the casing '7 toward the instrument bell and away from the 8 cap 8 the air introduced through the mouthpiece is forced to travel through the pipes 2 to 5 inclusive into the elbow 6, and through the port of the piston 8 into the elbow 11, thence through the bend 13 and pipe 15 into the elbow 16, continuing its way through the other port of the piston 8 into the elbow 18, and from here through the bend 20 and the pipe contiguous thereto to the bell 21.

When, however, the piston 8 is adjusted, as shown for instance in Fig. 2, so as to be positioned adjacent the casing cap 8, that port in the piston which formerly connected the elbow 6 with the elbow 11 now is moved from this position, and one of the ports now places the elbow 6 in communication with the elbow 18, whereby the path of the air introduced through mouthpiece 1 is considerably shortened.

The air now flows through the pipe 2 from mouthpiece 1 and through the pipe connections 3, 4, 5 to the elbow 6 and through the port of the piston 8 into the elbow 18, whence it continues its way through the pipe 20 into the bell 21. One entire section of thepath of the air, is, therefore, eliminated, and obviously this will produce an alteration in the playing range of the instrument. This alteration can readily be brought about by varying the position of the piston 8, for which purpose a spring located within the casing '7' not shown-and the finger tip, 10 are sufiicient. i1)

While in prior instruments a change from a G bugle to a D required the attachment of an additional crook, or the provision of rotary device which greatly altered the appearance of the instrument, the described improvement enables the 11 5 player to complete this change instantly and without taking the-instrument from the mouth. The appearance of the improved bugle is about the same as the standard instrument.

It is frequently desirable to render an adjusti2 3 ment of the valve or piston mechanism impossible, as for instance, when the musician is to enter a contest with one or more players of bugles which are not provided with these means for selectively altering the playing range of the instrument. The 135 guide sleeve 22 secured to the cap 8' of the casing '7 has a transverse bore through which a set screw 23 impinges on the piston stem 9. This impact of the set screw 23 on the stem 9 may be made strong enough to lock the piston 8 against recip- 13o rocal movement in either direction. The locking device for the piston 8 formed by the set screw 23 may include the upset outer end 23' of said set screw to prevent dislodgment and loss of said screw, and this upset condition on said set screw 1:55 can be readily effected through a bore 25 formed in the guide sleeve 22 in opposition to that threaded bore through which the locking screw 23'extends.

Referring now to the alternate or modified form of this instrument which is illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 of the drawings and which pertain to a long model soprano bugle of the same pitch as the one illustrated in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive, the numeral 6a indicates a bend terminating in the knuckle 6 which is disposed below the piston casing '7. In this manner the entire length of the instrument is materially increased to provide the so-called long model piston bugle.

The knuckle 6, which forms a compound or twisted bend, according to Fig. 4, is extended downward from the pipe 5 into the casing '7, but in this alternate form of the instrument, said knuckle 6 now extends from a lower pipe 4', which is identical in function with pipe 5 illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3, upward and enters the casing 7 at the same point entered by the bend 6 of the preferred form of this bugle.

Similarly, the knuckle 18 extends from the lower portion of the cylindrical part of the piston casing 7 downward to lead into the straight pipe 20 with which it is connected by the ferrule 19. The pipe 2, however, which is continued in the pipe 5, is longer in this bugle than in the ordinary soprano bugle, and this leads to an altered tone production which again may be varied by suitable adjustment of the piston 8 within the casing '7.

I claim:-

1. A bugle having the usual straight and bent air passages, a valve housing extending longitudinally of the bugle and located closely to some of the straight air passages, some of the passages being extended to the valve housing, a plunger slidable longitudinally within said housing and adapted to establish communication between predetermined passages through said housing selectively, a stem projecting axially from the housing, means for guiding said stem, and means engaging said stem laterally thereof for locking the same against axial displacement.

2. A bugle having the usual straight pipes and bends, including a valve housing extending substantially parallel to the straight pipes, a plunger movable in a rectilinear path in the housing,

means for establishing communication between the difierent of said pipes and bends in accordance with the position of said plunger, screw means for maintaining the adjustment of the plunger in said housing, and means to maintain said screw means against axial displacement.

3. A bugle having the usual straight pipes and bends, including a valve housing extending substantially parallel to the straight pipes, a plunger movable in a rectilinear path in the housing, means for establishing communication between the different of said pipes and bends in accordance with the position of the plunger, a stem on said plunger, means engaging said plunger stem for adjusting the position of the plunger in said housing, said means including a set screw, and means carried by said set screw to maintain said screw against axial displacement.

4. A bugle having the usual straight pipes and bends including a valve housing, a valve movable in said housing, and means for adjusting the position of said valve in said housing, and screw means for maintaining the adjustment of said valve in either position.

5. A bugle provided with a valve housing, a valve reciprocally mounted in said housing and provided with a stem, a housing head mounted on said housing and provided with a tubular extension which is traversed by said valve stem, and a set screw in said housing head extension and adapted to engage said valve stem to maintain adjustment of said valve.

PHILIP J. BURKLE. 

